


Wings of Fire Don't Melt

by bellytos



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste Needs a Hug, Alternate Universe - Magic, Badass Marinette Dupain-Cheng, F/M, Fluff, Hawk Moth is Gabriel Agreste, Hot Mess Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Magic, Protect Adrien Agreste, Rating May Change, Swearing, i only kind of know where this is going, idk what im doing, im overdramatic but im trying, low key soulmate au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-26
Updated: 2020-04-02
Packaged: 2020-07-20 03:51:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19985638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bellytos/pseuds/bellytos
Summary: With every heartbeat Marinette Dupain-Cheng burns.---Alternatively: Magic is evil and Marinette is magic. Life is rough, buddy.





	1. hot hot hot

Magic is real. Everyone knows it. It’s no secret. Sometimes -it’s rare- but sometimes someone will feel magic. It’s like when somebody softly blows on the back of your neck, but it’s like they’re blowing air on something deep inside of you. Or perhaps you’ll hear a whisper in the wind so obscure and almost secretive that chills will run down your spine.

Magic is real. It’s also very alive. Magic has a will of its own. Contradictory to story books, magic users don’t control magic. The magic controls _them_ . For this reason, magic inspires _fear_.

Magic is real, and it’s an ugly thing. Parents will pray that their children aren’t chosen by magic. It’s so so rare that their prayers aren’t answered. But still, they pray. They pray just in case.

Magic is malicious and destructive, and this has been hammered into the head of none other than Marinette Dupain-Cheng since, well, forever. Same goes for every child.

Magic is unique. Strains of elemental magic (they aren’t sure how many there are, only that there is one to each element) choose a compatible soul to latch onto. And when that soul moves on (when the host dies, Marinette knows) that strain of magic will latch on to a new compatible soul. 

Those who are compatible with magic? Some think they’re victims, others think they’re wicked. Either way, the magic takes control and they become creatures that you can’t hope to call human. They’re presented as absolute monsters. Beings who exist to hurt others. They’re presented as emotionless husks.

But Marinette knows this isn’t true. Well, maybe some don’t feel emotions (she hopes this isn’t the case). But Marinette? With every heartbeat Marinette _burns._

Marinette feels all her emotions so intensely that she often forgets to breathe. With each day her emotions become more. Marinette feels so much emotion that sometimes she wonders if she’ll wake up one day and that’s all she’ll feel. Maybe she’ll have so much emotion in her that she’ll no longer feel her limbs.

Marinette wonders sometimes if she will really and truly lose herself to the fire that makes her _hot hot hot on the inside._ Perhaps Marinette is a monster in the making. Marinette is brave, but she’s afraid and she feels that fear just as intensely as she feels everything else. For this reason, Marinette can’t show the world her fire. It would be for the best. Everyone would be safer, but Marinette would be unhappy. And she thinks she’d feel that intensely too.

No one fully knows what happens to those who bond with an element. When they’re caught, they’re kept alive, because when they die that magic will just be reborn and then it will no longer be contained. 

But how well those hosts live in captivity is a mystery.

____

When Marinette was born, she was born _hot_. Her fever was high enough that doctors expected her not to make it. But she came out screaming. And she did not stop screaming. Her fever continued to rise and when her mother held her for the first time (and possibly the last), still she screamed. But when sleep came, as it had to eventually, her fever lowered enough that she was cleared to go home.

When she woke up again, her fever rose but she seemed perfectly healthy.

All throughout elementary school, Marinette’s internal temperature grew hotter, but her parents didn’t notice and neither did Marinette.

She was however, ruled out as strange.

_You look like you’re going to eat me alive._

_Marinette is scary._

Perhaps Marinette would have cared if she could think more clearly. Things were always fuzzy. Her thoughts grew more scrambled every day. She’d have moments of lucidity, where she’d see things and she’d _want want want_. But then her mind would cloud up again.

And then when Marinette was twelve, she hit puberty. The start of puberty isn’t easy for any soon-to-be-teenager, but Marinette thinks it was extra difficult for her, considering she _set on fucking fire_. Lucky for her, she was in her bathroom at the time, brushing her teeth.

One minute she was washing toothpaste off of the bristles, and the next she was running to the shower and screaming. It was while she was sitting in a stream of cold water that she realized what she was. Marinette cried. It wouldn’t be her first time and it wouldn’t be her last. She would stay home from school that day.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng’s head was clear after that.


	2. Awkward

Marinette had a fire inside her. Everyone knew this, but they didn’t understand that her fire wasn’t just a metaphorical thing. The fire in Marinette made her passionate, and some would even go as far as to say inspiring. She was brave, she stood up for those in need, and she was always there to help. Whether it’s sewing shut a rip in a jacket before class, or telling Chloe to ‘sit down and shut up before I make you’ (that one had been an adventure), Marinette was there to help those in need. Yes Marinette was nice, and yes she made people happy, but she also made them  _ afraid _ . 

Marinette didn’t know she made people afraid. It was probably for the best. Rather than frustration, Marinette felt confusion. She tried so hard, and yet no one would be her friend.

But not this year. This year was going to be different. Marinette was fifteen years old, and she was starting high school. New school, new classmates. She’s also got a box of macarons to share with her new class and that, well that certainly doesn’t hurt.

Marinette was excited, so she was understandably so focused on keeping her internal fire from becoming external, that she almost didn’t notice the old man crossing the street and the car that was definitely not stopping for him. Almost. She yanked him out of the way and tripped on the way down, and hoped that no one noticed smoke that rose from the bottom of the box.

They exchanged a few pleasantries, and then Marinette was on her way. Marinette didn’t think much of it, but the old man had made what may very well be one of the most important decisions he will ever make.

He was no stranger to magic, but he was a stranger to elemental magic and so he failed to notice the fire that burns  _ hot hot hot  _ inside Marinette.

Marinette ran into her classroom just in time to see Nino (poor Nino) sent to the front of the classroom.

She took her seat. Chloe came to steal it. Her fire burned hotter, but Marinette was going to,  _ had to _ , keep it under control. 

“This has always been my seat.” and Marinette had no idea how such a simple sentence managed to sound so angry, but oh well.

Sabrina looked like she was trying to say something, but she was trembling so Chloe took the lead. “Listen psycho, this year I’m sitting there. Adrien Agreste is-” Marinette’s fire positively  _ flared _ and she had no idea why. For just a split second her fire grew so intense that Marinette had to drown everything else out and direct all her attention on keeping that fire inside.

She interrupted Chloe, “Who is Adrien?” Chloe seemed to like this question. After a brief insult, she explained that not only is he a model, he’s her best friend. Marinette didn’t care about that. She didn’t know what answer she wanted, but that wasn’t it.

“So you should just sit by the new girl, maybe she’ll be your friend.” Chloe finished smugly. Marinette was about to tell her exactly where she could shove it, but then she glanced at said new girl and Marinette instinctively liked her. Her fire blew towards the new girl and Marinette followed.

New girl though? Well she wasn’t having it. “I have never seen someone so entitled in my whole life. You’re really going to throw a fit?  _ Over a damn seat _ ? Grow up.”

Chloe sputtered. “Do- Do you have any idea who my daddy is!?”

Marinette was having fun. The new girl rolled her eyes, “Obviously a bad parent.”

Chloe screeched. Mme. Bustier started class before any more insults could be exchanged.

Marinette found herself sitting by the new girl (as Chloe had intended). She was fine with that. With a whispered exchange of names, Marinette found out that her new deskmate was named Alya. 

“Let’s be friends!” Alya said at the end of class.

“Really?”

“Of course! You seem really intense! No offense or anything. You just kind of have this hungry look to you, like you’re ambitious and I like that!”

Marinette wasn’t following, but this beautiful girl wanted to be her friend! “Okay!”

____

Everything changed for Marinette the day she got the Ladybug Miraculous.

It was a fun coincidence that she got it on the same day that she made her first friend. Well, Marinette supposed it didn’t seem very fun at the time.

There was a mysterious box in her room, and really, who sees a mysterious box in their room and doesn’t open it?

Marinette’s initial reaction was to scream when she saw the giant bug-mouse. But the fire inside her burned warm, happy.  _ Trust _ . Marinette tended to be impulsive and her emotions were fickle, but her intuition was hardly ever wrong.

So Marinette didn’t scream. She approached with caution.

“This is . . . unexpected.” said the bug-mouse.

Marinette was still too nervous to speak. But the look in her eyes said enough.

“Nothing is wrong! It’s just that my miraculous has never been paired with someone already chosen by magic. This is new, but that doesn’t necessarily mean bad.”

The utter panic Marinettte felt when she heard the words out loud is indescribable. Chosen by magic. Someone knows.  _ Someone knows _ . She wanted to do something. To do anything. She wanted to protest, or at the very least, run away, but  _ she can’t breathe _ .

“Whoa whoa whoa it’s okay! What’s wrong?”

Marinette’s thoughts were fuzzy, but she knew right after it happened that she had set on fire.

She felt better after that.

____

Who knew that Marinette would be a superhero?

Mid explanation, news of an akuma attack began playing on her computer screen. Marinette was out the window within the minute.

As for the next minute? Marinette found herself falling. She was still new to this whole superpowers thing, after all. And oh, that would be a person that she was headed towards.

Marinette had experienced some strange things, but this took the cake. This wasn’t an ideal introduction, but Marinette was. Marinette. Marinette was  _ hot _ . Her mind was fogging. Her temperature was rising. The fire within Marinette was so overwhelming large that there wasn’t much of Marinette left. Just a barely contained fire that was  _ scorching _ . Marinette looked into bright green eyes and she was filled with  **want** . He watched her eyes glaze over.

Marinette (or what was left of her) wrapped her arms around this  _ amazing _ new entity and clutched at the back of his suit. Her breath was nearly unbearably hot, even through his suit.

“Uh,” his voice cracked, “Lady?”

Marinette jolted. The fire died down to a satisfied smoulder, the traitor. “I am so sorry! Uh! I fell!”

“Um.” he took a moment to steady his voice, “No worries. I’m trying to figure this whole thing out too.” He untangled himself and so did Marinette.

The atmosphere was awkward, and what better way to lighten the mood than a tasteful pun? “It was nice of you to drop in. You must be the partner my kwami told me about.”

“Uh. Yeah.” Nope. Still awkward.

“You can call me. Hmm. Chat Noir.”

“Then I guess it would only make sense if I called myself Ladybug.”

…

Awkward. Awkward. Awkward.

Chat Noir was saved by the bell. Scratch that, it was a collapsing building. Whatever. Superhero duties call.

Half an hour later, the akuma was flying off and Chat Noir decided that he liked his partner maybe a little more than he should at this point.

…

When the akuma had flown away, Marinette had wanted to burn it until there was nothing left but that would mean the revealing of a secret that no one knew she kept.

Marinette should have burned it.


	3. Chapter 3

When Marinette watches citizens turn into giant stone monsters on television, for a second, nothing happens. The next second, she’s running up to her room if only to stop her parents from seeing the smoke seeping out of her mouth.

She hasn’t even closed the trap door when Tikki starts speaking frantically, “Marinette, it’s okay! You’re a new superhero, mistakes are bound to happen!”

“I’ll kill him.”

“Stoneheart is a victim, Marinette.”

“I’m not talking about Stoneheart. I’m talking about Hawkmoth.”

“Oh. Well, maybe killing him isn’t the best approach.”

“I know that. I just… I’m so angry! Did you see how scared everybody was? How could anybody do this?”

“Bad people are going to do bad things. That’s why the miraculous exist. To stop bad people and maintain peace and balance.”

“Then I swear to wear these earrings until Hawkmoth’s miraculous is mine.”

“My Ladybugs are always passionate.” Tikki said fondly. “This is a mistake that can be fixed. You can start by trying to prevent your classmate from being akumatized again. If that doesn’t work, you can go through the same process you went through last time, but end it with catching the akuma and purifying it with your yoyo when the infected object breaks.”

Marinette took a deep breath. “I can do this.” she burns with determination.

“You can do this.” Tikki confirms.

…

When Marinette gets to school, Alya is outside the entrance waiting. Marinette is greeted by a feeling of warmth that she’s never felt before, and is unsure if the feeling can be attributed to herself or to her fire. As she and Alya walk inside, Alya rambles about Ladybug and how amazing she is. “She could step on me and I wouldn’t be mad.”

“Ha, I don’t think she’d do that.” 

“Are you kidding me, did you see the way she walked towards Ivan? Total top energy.” Marinette wasn’t sure she was comfortable with this conversation, but she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t amused. Her fire burned lowly and fondly, warm and at ease. It took only seconds for it to grow big and angry.

Speaking of Ivan…

Marinette had to take a deep breath. It was clear that the small crowd gathered around Ivan meant no harm. They were excited and curious, it was only natural. But still, couldn’t they see how uncomfortable Ivan was? Were they considering his feelings at all?

Marinette heard Ivan mumble, “I’m sorry. I-I wasn’t myself.” He sounded helpless. Marinette’s heart broke for him. Up until now, she had been so angry at Hawkmoth that she hadn’t spared much thought towards Ivan’s feelings. 

“Once a monster, always a monster.”

_ Chloe. _

Marinette’s fire flared dangerously. Very dangerously. Had she no empathy at all? Marinette wanted her to experience as much pain as Ivan was experiencing, but she had to keep a tight leash on these impulses. Somehow she didn’t think attacking Chloe would go very well for her.

Ivan stormed off.

“Don’t let the door hit your on the way ouuuttt.” Marinette wanted to remove the door from its hinges and hit Chloe with it before she could get out.  _ Deep breaths. _ She had to go after Ivan. There was no way that he wasn’t going to turn into an akuma. But she  **really** wanted to hit Chloe. Her fire was torn between wanting to hurt, and wanting to comfort.

_ A little bit of both.  _ Marinette decided. It wouldn’t hurt to rough her up a little bit, right?

Alya, proving to be Marinette’s ever reliable savior, stormed towards Chloe, hellbent on verbally defending Ivan herself. Right. Verbally, like a normal person. Thank god for Alya. Marinette could leave it to her. As much as she wanted to join in, Ivan was out of the room by now and time was really of the essence, so Marinette ran after him.

Marinette found him leaning against the lockers, listening to music through his headphones. Marinette could just barely hear his music, meaning that he was probably blasting it. Of all the coping mechanisms to have, Marinette supposed that listening to music wasn’t a particularly bad one (though she worried slightly for his ears). Still, there was no way he was okay right now. Her fire drifted towards him, and she knew what she had to do.

Quietly, she moved to sit next to Ivan and put a hand on his arm. He removed his headphones and turned to look at her. Curiosity shone in his eyes, mixed in with his frustration. Marinette hadn’t really had friends up until, well, yesterday. So she wasn’t really sure what to say. Instead, she hoped she could convey her comfort with her presence alone while she figured out what to say.

Her fire burned low, hardly there, crackling slightly. Her fire was like that of a hearth fire, comforting and peaceful. Ivan visibly relaxed, his gaze drifting forward as his head lay back against the lockers. If anyone were to enter right now, and look closely at the pair, perhaps they’d notice a faint glow emitting from the both of them. But no one entered, and the glow went unnoticed. Ivan felt inexplicably at ease and both he and Marinette remained ignorant of the magical cause.

Marinette thought deeply about what to say, and decided that she should probably address the root of the problem. Quietly she said, “So, you like  Mylène, right?”

For Ivan this was a sensitive topic, but at the moment he couldn’t bring himself to feel anything other than relaxed. All he could say was, “Yeah.”

“Are you going to ask her out?”

“I don’t know. It’s… hard.”

“Well,” said Marinette, trying to imagine how much emotion would be attached to such feelings, “I can’t really judge you if you don’t. Conveying those sorts of feelings to someone… I’m not sure that’s something I’d be strong enough to do. But, she likes you back.”

“How do you know?”

“Intuition.”

“Confessing because of someone else’s intuition? That’s no small task.”

“I guess not. But you wouldn’t really be confessing because of my intuition, right? It’s because you like her and you want her to like you. This kind of thing is always a risk. It’s just a matter of whether or not it’s worth it to you.”

Ivan looked at her now. Really looked at her. “You know, I always thought you were pretty scary, but you’re actually really nice.” Was that a compliment?

“Um, thanks.” Her fire started to liven up a little bit now in response to the change in Ivan’s emotions. 

“And, about Mylène. It is worth it to me. I want to tell her how I feel.”

Marinette removed her hand from Ivan’s arm and stood up, a big grin on her face. “That’s great Ivan! No matter what happens, you can be proud of yourself for telling her!” And Marinette was pretty sure that Mylène would reciprocate his feelings. Marinette’s fire returned to its usual level of intensity. It wasn’t often that she experienced the level of calm that she had achieved while talking to Ivan, but it felt nice every now and then. And she wasn’t sure, but maybe she could say that he was her friend now. And, at the very least, for the moment he wasn’t an akuma.

…

After an exhausting start to the day, Marinette found herself walking to the classroom with Alya. Alya, her new friend that Marinette had grown to care for faster than she had ever grown to care for anyone. Marinette thought Alya was godsend, an absolute delight. Which is why she really didn’t mean to tune Alya out while they walked. Alya, bless her, was babbling despite Marinette’s growing unresponsiveness. But Marinette couldn’t help it. The closer they got to the classroom, the more her head fogged up. Her fire grew and grew with every step, and was wavering and bursting with excitement. Had Marinette been a bit more lucid than she currently was, she’d probably question her irrational feelings.

Lord help her, they reached the classroom. A boy with blond hair was bent over her seat, a piece of gum beneath him. The position really couldn’t have been much more incriminating, and the boy seemed to realize this as he turned around when he felt heat against his back, green eyes widening.

Under normal circumstances, Marinette would have been undoubtedly furious. But she was not furious, nor was she angry. All she felt was  _ hot.  _ Scorching really. Her temperature was almost unbearably high, but not hot enough to set on fire. So really, it could have been worse. Her eyes were glazed over.

“It’s really not what it looks like! I was trying to get the gum  **off** your chair!” His words didn’t register, nor did Chloe’s laughter. Marinette didn’t hear anything, just felt  _ want  _ and the desire to touch and hold and possess-

Alya tugged on her sleeve, knocking her out of it just enough to gain basic understanding of her surroundings and her current situation. Whether Adrien was lying or telling the truth, Marinette didn’t have the brain power right now to think about it. “Okay.” was all she could manage as she put a tissue (a tissue that took all her energy not to set on fire) on the gum and sat next to it.

“Weird,” Sabrina whispered to Chloe, “I thought she’d explode.”

“Ha. Freak.”

Marinette could process their words enough to understand them, but not enough to be angry. Her head was filled with nothing but desire that she couldn’t decipher. Alya, a real one, pulled up images of ‘the infamous Adrien Agreste’ on her phone, explaining her findings without bothering to hide her disdain. Marinette listened to Alya intently. Her tone didn’t sit quite right with her but she had the feeling that her fire wouldn’t be pleased if Alya  **did** like Adrien either. How difficult.

Marinette was really burning up.

Just a couple yards away, Adrien made his first friend other than Chloe. Many more yards away, Stoneheart was born for the second time.

…

“Adrien Agreste?” called Mme Bustier at the beginning of roll call. Marinette’s head, which had been lying in her palm, jerked up at the name. She watched closely as Nino explained roll call to him as quickly and quietly as he could.

Adrien, unprepared and maybe slightly panicked shot to his feet, eyes wide and hand up. “Present!” he called out, definitely louder than what was necessary or normal. Marinette’s fire flickered pleasantly as she tried and failed to suppress a (very irrational) blush.  _ Cute.  _ Marinette gazed at him through half lidded eyes.

The more time she spent in his vicinity, it seemed, the more her head cleared up and the more control she had over herself. Her impulses, however, didn’t fade in the slightest. He sat down but Marinette’s gaze didn’t stray.

“Bourgeois, Chloe.”

“Present.”

“Bruel, Ivan.”

“ **PRESENT!** ” shouted Stoneheart as he burst through the fucking wall.

_ Fuck _ .

Everyone absolutely scattered, which was reasonable Marinette supposed. She noticed Adrien went out the door and breathed a sigh of relief. She’d have a hard time focusing with him around. Mylène and Chloe were snatched with little hesitation by stone fists. Marinette grasped her purse and ran out the door while the room was still in chaos. Behind her, she heard yet another wall smash but she’d just have to deal with that later. Right now, duty calls.

She found an empty janitors closet and shut herself within. Tikki flew out of her purse the second it was open.

“Are you ready Marinette?”

Marinette felt her fire grow, fed by a mixture of fear and excitement. A smile found its way onto Marinette’s face. “Nope! Tikki, transform me!” In a rush of pink, Marinette was Ladybug for the second time ever.

She wasted no time, practically flying out the janitors closet and out into the open.

…

When Ladybug arrives, Chat Noir is standing in front of Stoneheart, looking nervous but determined. Ladybug pinches her arm when her head starts to cloud up again. (Seriously what is up with her stupid fire doing this to her over stupid boys?)  _ Not the time _ She thinks at her fire that absolutely doesn’t listen to her. What her fire does listen to, is the sound of the ground shaking as giant stone monsters other than Ivan come running in. And start attacking Chat Noir. He’s doing a great job of dodging, but Marinette’s fire is absolutely not having it. It rages up, giant and uncontrollable. Marinette feels her arms set on fire and would be significantly more worried if her head wasn’t already filled with getting that cat out of danger. She uses her yoyo to pull him out of the fray, even though he probably didn’t need it. As she pulls him up, she notices that her arms don’t look like they’re on fire. Rather, her suit is radiating heat.  _ Strange _ . She hadn’t thought about it, but she supposed it made sense for a magical suit to be fireproof. Instead of setting aflame, it was acting like a conductor of sorts, growing hotter with each passing second. As Chat Noir (attached to her yoyo) finally reached her, Marinette caught him in her arms. Somehow instinctively knowing that he wouldn’t get hurt.

“Nice one LB,” he said with a roguish grin. Charming kitty. “You’re uh, you’re feeling a little warm there, are you okay?”

Ah, she was still holding him. She reluctantly set him down, to the objection of her fire, which flickered at her angrily. “I’m good, kitty. Just a warm person.” She was grinning, far happier than the situation warranted. 

Chat returned her smile. “Well Ladybug, we’ve got an akuma to catch. Shall we?”

“Let’s.”

Together they ran after the akuma, in a better mood than they should’ve been. It didn’t take long for them to find one of the stone monsters, just in time for it to chuck a car at Alya. Chat wasted no time in throwing his baton and altering the course of the car just enough to not crush Ladybug’s best friend. Ladybug liked him more and more with everything he did, which is why she snatched him with her yoyo (a little clumsily but she managed) before the stone monster could snatch him with his fist. “Nice save LB!”

“Back at you, Chat.” Ladybug used her yoyo to pull the car enough to free Alya while Chat grabbed his staff. Soon they found themselves approaching the eiffel tower, only to see Stoneheart still holding onto Chloe and Mylène. And then he was only holding onto Mylène. Chloe was flying towards the ground. For half a second, just a very small moment, Marinette hesitated. Her fire didn’t like Chloe. It blew away from her.  _ Let her fall. _

Non nonon ono. Marinette was not about to become the monster people expected her to be (or would expect her to be if they knew her secret). She ran and caught Chloe at the last possible second. And promptly dropped her on her ass, ignoring the small “Hey!” that followed. For now, Marinette was not the kind of person who would let someone die, no matter how much she disliked them.

Everything after happened in what felt like the blink of an eye. Arguing with a police officer, and absolutely verbally destroying the giant face made of butterflies that was supposed to represent the face of their apparent new enemy.

And Chat Noir thought that maybe, he was just a little bit in love.

…

Marinette found herself back at school, sitting in the seat she had originally chosen for herself. She was tired now, really tired. And really confused if she was being honest. She was thinking about that silly cat that she could now call her partner, and wondering how she felt about him. She knew how her fire felt, but Marinette didn’t want to be heavily influenced by such irrational feelings. 

Marinette hadn’t realized Chloe had walked in until she was demanding that Marinette go change seats.

And Marinette, a girl with way too little impulse control and way too much bite to her words, said, “Eat shit.”

“Excuse me?”

Marinette’s fire rose very suddenly and very angrily. Her eyes burned. “I said eat shit. Sit the fuck down Chloe.”

No one in the class was talking now. And while Chloe would never admit it outloud, or even to herself, she suddenly became very afraid. She put on a show, stomping and whining as she sat down. But secretly, she was shivering. Her fear was illogical, but Marinette looked positively murderous.

And then Adrien walked in and Marinette’s head fogged up again. Adrien misunderstood her expression to be one of discomfort. ‘She really doesn’t like me.’ But after some encouragement from Nino, he resolved to do his best to fix that.

…

Marinette found herself standing outside after school, preparing herself for the cold and wet walk home. She supposed she could turn the water around her into steam, if she was just a bit more emotional than she currently was. But that wouldn’t be very inconspicuous. Just as she had resolved to take her first step, Adrien came outside to stand by her. Her head didn’t cloud up very much. Being in close proximity with him for an extended amount of time seemed to help. But still, this boy was dangerous. Not that she could blame him for it though.

He looked at her earnestly, “Listen, I know you probably don’t like me very much. But I promise I was trying to take the gum off your seat.” His gaze drifted to the ground, “I’ve never gone to school before, and I’m sort of new to this whole friend thing.” His gaze shifted from nervousness to determination as he looked up at her, seemingly noticing her lack of umbrella. He paused, then smiled so kindly that her heart hurt, his green eyes (the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen) meeting her blue eyes. He handed her his umbrella and Marinette found herself at a loss for words. When Marinette’s hand originally met his to take the umbrella, there was a spark of heat and they both pulled back briefly before trying again. Marinette took the umbrella and held it gingerly, as though it were precious.

And then it closed on her. What a traitorous umbrella she had been gifted.

But Adrien burst out laughing and she swore she had never heard a prettier sound. She wanted to keep hearing it. But for now, all she could do was join in and free herself from the umbrella’s hold. 

“See you tomorrow,” Adrien managed as he returned to his car. 

Marinette walked home in absolute silence. Not a word escaped her lips. When she reached her home, she wiped off her shoes and closed her new umbrella, quiet still.

“How was school, Marinette?” said Sabine from behind the counter.

“Good.” and it was all she could do to keep the strain out of her voice.

Moving at a steady pace, she went up the stairs and reached her room. She calmly freed Tikki from her purse before setting it down, removing her shoes, and setting down her umbrella. Quiet still, she moved to her bathroom. Marinette turned on the shower so that the spray would have the highest pressure and the coldest temperature it could manage. Then, still in her clothes, she stepped in and set on fire.

Marinette could only try to muffle her screeches.


End file.
